"

"Great Scott!" he said. "Do you think I should have been as presumptuous
as that? I should have just said, '_With Noel's love_,' and you wouldn't
have had the heart to fling it back again."

She smiled, not very willingly. "I can't understand it at all."

"I can," he said boldly. "I've known there was another fellow, ever
since the first night I met you. But I've been hoping against hope that
he didn't count. Does he count then?"

Olga turned sharply from him. She was suddenly trembling. "No!" she
whispered.

He drew a step nearer to her. "Olga--forgive me--is that the truth?"

She controlled herself and turned back to him. "There is no one in India
who would have sent me this," she said. "I can't account for it--in any
way. Please forgive me for accusing you of what you haven't done.
And--and--"

She stopped short, for he had caught her hands in an eager, boyish
clasp. "Olga, don't--there's a dear!" he begged with headlong ardour. "I
don't love you any the less because I didn't do it. I believe myself
it's a beastly hoax, and I'm just as furious as you are. But, I say,
can't we found a partnership on it? Is it asking too much? Pull me up if
it is! I don't want to be premature. Only I won't have you sick or sorry
about it, anyhow so far as I am concerned. You were quite right in
thinking that I loved you. I do, dear, I do!"

"But you mustn't!" she said. She left her hands in his, but the face she
raised was tired and sad and unresponsive. "I feel a dreadful pig,
Noel," she said, speaking as if it were an effort. "I almost made you
say it, didn't I? And it's just the one thing I mustn't let you say.
You're so nice, so kind, such a jolly friend. But you're
not--not--not--"

"Not eligible as a husband," suggested Noel.

"Don't use that horrid adjective!" she protested. "You make me feel
worse and worse."

He laughed, his sudden, boyish laugh. "No, but there's nothing to feel
bad about, really. And you didn't make me say it. I said it because I
wanted to. Also, you're not bound to take me seriously. I'm not always
in earnest--as you may have discovered. Look here, you've warned me off.
Can't we talk about something else now?"

"If you're sure you don't mind," she said, smiling rather wistfully.

He cocked his eyebrows humorously. "Of course I mind. I mind enormously.
But that's of no consequence. By the way, I suppose your funny little
uncle isn't given to playing practical jokes?"

"Nick? Why no!" Olga